The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Director: Cedric Nicloas-Troyan
Stars: Emily Blunt, Sam Claflin, Charlize Theron
Duration: 114 mins
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

The Huntsman: Winter’s War can be described as a prequel, sequel and equal to its predecessor, Snow White And The Huntsman, a so-so take on the Snow White fairy tale which in 2012 opened to middling reviews, but took a solid $400 million at the box office.

As can be inferred from the title, The Huntsman: Winter’s War focuses more on the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth). “There is another story – one you have not yet seen,” says a narrator who sounds suspiciously like Liam Neeson, before launching into a somewhat long-winded exposition that takes us to way before the events of the first movie; stops to explain away Snow White’s absence from this story rather dismissively, before we eventually fast-forward a few years’ after where the action proper takes place…

To summarise. Many years before being thwarted by Snow White, the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) had a sister, the beautiful and gentle Freya (Emily Blunt). Ravenna continues to dispose of husbands while safe in the knowledge that she is and will always be the fairest of them all… until her trusty magic mirror announces otherwise and cues a series of events that lead to Freya’s banishment to an icy kingdom where she rules with a frosty fist (any resemblance to Disney’s Frozen is purely coincidental…), banishes love, and capturing children when they are young to raise them into an army of huntsmen to do her bidding,

Two of these children grow up to be Chris Hemsworth’s Eric and Jessica Chastain’s Sara who fall in love with one another, incurring the ire of Freya who forces them apart. It’s no spoiler to say that they reunite eventually, and join forces with a quartet of dwarves to thwart Freya when they learn that she intends to get her hands on the magic mirror to unleash more destruction.

The film scores very highly on its production values

You may have gathered from the above that it’s a rather convoluted storyline, the flashbacks and forwards don’t help, and the script dithers for long periods of time, not sure either where to take the narrative or what to do with the cast.

The film adopts its predecessor’s rather dark tone at points, peppered with scenes of stunningly visual epic melodrama featuring some eye-popping visual effects, some cute forest creatures or truly scary monsters, yet often these fizzle out into tepid scenes of non-action, while its attempts at humour don’t hit the mark as often as they should.

The film scores very highly on its production values – it makes sense once you realise it is directed by Snow White and the Huntsman’s Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, yet it would have scored higher overall had he taken as much care with the story and character development as he did with its look, effects and the impeccably-made costumes designed by Colleen Atwood.

I would quite readily dismiss it overall as a load of nonsense yet it’s saved from total ignominy by the performances from its cast, who make the most of the material they are given to create an interesting enough diversion for the younger audience members, and while looking attractive enough to provide some eye candy for the older ones.

I am happy to forgive Hemsworth and Chastain’s undistinguishable accents, for they both throw themselves into their roles with aplomb and are convincing as the lovers-cum-warriors reunited after some tragic events; the former a rugged version of Thor, the latter having clearly taken some lessons from the Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen.

Charlize Theron pretty much stole the show last time round, and she is equally imposing here as the ruthless and brutal Ravenna, though she could have afforded to tone it down a notch here; and Emily Blunt displays the most depth as Freya, the young princess whose heart is broken by a truly callous act, and her journey from warm and engaging woman to icy tyrant is the most convincing.

Kudos to the quartet of actors playing the delightfully droll dwarves – Nick Frost (returning from the original) as Nion and accompanied by Rob Brydon as Gryff, Sheridan Smith as Bromwyn and Alexandra Roach as Doreena.

The bickering and bantering between them as the he-dwarves and the she-dwarves engage in a mini-gender war provides the film with many laugh-out-loud moments, and there are times when they effortlessly steal the limelight from their A-list co-stars.